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If you've got an expertise and a way with words, you may be in
the perfect position to launch a business teaching others about
your expertise. This business is called information marketing and
your products can take the form of books, audio programs, DVDs,
newsletters, seminars and other content vehicles. What is
essential is the actual information: the unique knowledge that
you are taking from your brain and putting on paper or screen or
into a video or seminar script.

The most exciting part of launching an information marketing
business can be researching your market and creating your
products. However, you also need to put protections in place
before you launch. Paperwork and legal protections may not seem
as sexy as writing your first book or making a seminar sale, but
this work can be vital.

As you grow and make money, your success may make you a target,
which can make you vulnerable. The following legal protections
will help you protect your assets, products, customers and
yourself.

Copyright
Copyright can protect your words in whatever form from people
stealing them. It creates a protection under federal law for your
products and sales materials. You need to include copyright
notices in your products and sales letters, and have documented
agreements with all your writers and content providers.

Registering your products with the U.S. Copyright Office is the only way for
you to fully protect them. It's a quick and easy process. Most
importantly, it provides you with the right to statutory
damages and attorney's fees should someone copy your original
works. These penalties and fees can be a terrific deterrent
when you are pursuing people who are stealing your work. Even
if you never recover those damages, the threat can often be
enough to stop continued infringement.

Registration is voluntary but if you ever want to bring a lawsuit
against an infringer, registration is key. You register a work
with the U.S. Copyright Office with a simple form, copies of your
work, and a $30 fee.

Fair Use and Permissions
for Copyright-Protected Work
Did you come across a killer sales letter you want to adapt to
your business or an order form you want to edit into your own?
It's always better to ask for permission. That letter or form is
likely copyright protected, exposing you to legal liability
should you use it without express permission.

Even if something is protected under intellectual property laws,
your unauthorized use may still be legal. There are exceptions to
each of the laws protecting creative work--situations where
authorization is not required. For example, under copyright law,
a principle known as "fair use" permits you to copy small
portions of a work for certain purposes such as scholarship or
commentary. Under the fair use doctrine, you can reproduce a
few lines of a sales letter without getting permission.
However, to prevent hard feelings or threats of lawsuits, it's
always best to ask.

Always get permissions in writing. Relying on an oral or implied
agreement is almost always a mistake. You and the rights owner
may have misunderstood each other or may remember the terms of
your agreement differently. This can lead to disputes. If you
have to go to court to enforce your unwritten agreement, you'll
have difficulty proving exactly what the terms were.

TrademarksTrademarks protect distinctive words,
phrases, logos, symbols, slogans, and any other devices used
to identify and distinguish products or services in the
marketplace.

There are, however, areas where both trademark and copyright law
may be used to protect different aspects of the same product. For
example, copyright laws may protect the artistic aspects of a
graphic or a logo used by a business to identify its goods or
services, while a trademark may protect the graphic or logo from
use by others in a confusing manner in the marketplace.
Similarly, trademark laws are often used in conjunction with
copyright laws to protect advertising copy. Trademark law
protects a product or service name and any slogans used in the
ad, while copyright law protects the additional creative written
expression contained in the ad.

Product Disclaimers and
Insurance
To protect yourself fully and to properly educate your customers,
you should always include publisher's legal notices and
disclaimers in your information products and publications,
literature, order forms, seminar materials, etc. Have an attorney
review your disclaimer before you begin using it.

Related to disclaimers is consultant's/publisher's liability
insurance. As an information marketer, you need to consider
specific coverage for the types of claims that could come from
your coaching, teaching or product-publishing activities. For
example, someone who implements a business practice based in part
on your recommendations through coaching or products and is
unhappy with the results or loses money could sue you, even if he
didn't correctly implement your advice.